DOH will put up Early Intervention payments

The state Health Department has good news for hundreds of health care providers around the state: they will essentially front the payments for their services through next year while they iron out snags in a state takeover of Early Intervention services.
The “safety net payments” were announced Tuesday in response to complaints, reported earlier this summer by the Times Union, that Early Intervention providers hadn’t been paid since April.
Under the Early Intervention program, professionals such as physical or speech therapists work with youngsters up to age 3 who exhibit developmental delays. The idea is to catch and treat potential problems early.
Much of the treatment is paid by Medicaid and the state this year took over responsibility from the counties for making the Medicaid payments.

Update:The amount of early intervention claims sent to health insurers from April 1, 2013 through July 29, 2013 for which no known payment or denial has been received is approximately $17 million and safety net payments would hit $13 million.
Providers seeking safety net payments can apply this week and payments may start as soon as the week of August 19.